Art and the Sea gallery

The Art and the sea gallery features a changing selection of paintings and ship models from the Merseyside Maritime Museum collections.

Liverpool has had a thriving artistic community for more than 200 years. Most of these paintings are by artists who lived locally. They include portraits of ships which were owned and operated from Liverpool as well as views of the port and river. The majority were painted for the ships owners, builders, captains or crew. They are generally very accurate and evocative of a dynamic port.

The collection of ship models is large and wide ranging. Whilst there are many vessels with a Merseyside connection, there is good coverage of British merchant ships in general. The collection also includes warships, fishing craft and models made by French prisoners of war from about 1790 to 1815.

Display highlights

The displays of maritime paintings and ship models are changed regularly so that the full range of the collections can be seen.